


Gilgamesh Wulfenbach's Circus of Adventure!

by story_forger643



Series: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and the Circus! [1]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Fake Character Death, Gil does a stupid, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Running Away, although there is gonna be a lot of freaking out, but this one actually ends well, he joins the circus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23441437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/story_forger643/pseuds/story_forger643
Summary: Stricken by grief, Gil decides to cope with the loss of Agatha by running away and joining the circus. Accompanied by Dupree, the two of them are ready to start a new life and leave it all behind, until they see a familiar face...one they thought was long dead.This ends just as well as you'd expect it to in Girl Genius, which is to say not at all.
Relationships: Agatha Heterodyne/Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach, Bangladesh "Bang" DuPree & Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach, Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach & Klaus Wulfenbach, Master Payne's Circus of Adventure - Relationship, Tarvek Sturmvoraus/Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach
Series: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and the Circus! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713457
Comments: 98
Kudos: 55





	1. Gil makes irrational grief-based decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stricken by grief, Gil decides to cope with the loss of Agatha by running away and joining the circus. Accompanied by Dupree, the two of them are ready to start a new life and leave it all behind, until they see a familiar face...one they thought was long dead.
> 
> This ends just as well as you'd expect it to in Girl Genius, which is to say not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, I was thinking of the Girl Genius AU that could create the most chaos while at the same time making sure everything turned out okay, and this is what I came up with. Hope you like it!

_ Gone. _

That was all Gil could think about on the airship ride home. Agatha, who had been so beautiful, so smart, who had listened to him, had been so damned perfect, was gone.

Gil didn’t want to go back to his father, to the weight of the world on his shoulders. When Agatha was there, everything was okay, and even though the idea of one day running the Empire still terrified him, it seemed like it would be okay with her at his side.

But he was gone, and now there was nothing left.

* * *

Loss and loneliness had ruled Gil’s life for as long as he knew. He had no friends before Tarvek, and no family before he and Tarvek broke into his father’s vault. While that escapade may have given him family, it did lose him his only friend.

And what a sorry excuse for a family that was. Just a father, who would hardly ever look at his son, never spent time with him, and left the raising of him to some construct. No mother, grandparents, siblings, aunts or uncles or cousins; nothing to fill that part of him that had felt so strangely empty for as long as he could remember.

He did get friends, after a while. Theo and Sleipnir and Zulenna and all the other students on the Castle; the closest thing to siblings he thought he’d ever have. But even they left when he came back from Paris.

But they didn’t leave. His father, his absolute  _ jerk  _ of a father had cut them off from him. He could have had months and years on the Castle of them goofing off and playing around, having fun and sneaking into labs and telling stories because of his father. But now, all of them had been sent home, and he was alone again.

And Agatha; Agatha had been so perfect. Gil had fallen in love with her in minutes, this wonderful, smart girl who cared and got along with him and didn’t get bored when he talked about science. But now she was gone, too.

Just loss and loneliness had ruled his life before, they did again now.

* * *

Gil was done. He couldn’t stay on the Castle any longer. He told Wooster this, told him that he knew of Wooster’s true identity as a spy. Wooster was embarrassed at first, but told Gil that he’d cover for him when he left.

Gil ran into Dupree on the way out.

“Don’t try and stop me,” he said, ready to do whatever it took to get past his old friend.

“Stop you?” Dupree laughed. “I’m coming with you! You’ll never last a minute out there, and I’ve been getting bored just running assignments for your dear old dad!”

And that was how Gil ended up having Bang cut and dye his hair blond as he flew his small airship down into the Wastelands.

“So, where are we going?” Gil hadn’t really thought that far ahead, but he did have one idea.

“Join the circus. Maybe the one that Agatha died trying to help. We could become quite good actors, and maybe I could mock my father onstage.”

“In that case, I’ll cut my hair too. And I’m gonna need a new outfit…”

“Already packed.”

Bang smiled as she took the scissors to her hair. This was going to be one hell of a trip.

* * *

Gil and Bang were very, very nervous. They had a decent cover story for why they were out here (horseriding, but then something ate the damn horses and they were stuck in the middle of the Wastelands), disguises, and different names. But the plan was still very risky.

Gil went up to approach the young couple who was sitting by what looking like a burning monster, and hoped that the plan worked.

“Um, excuse me, sir?”

The man whipped around. Gil recognized it as the man who had taken him to Agatha’s grave several nights ago. “Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?!”

“My name is William Holzfӓller. This is my friend, Dupree Wolfhard. We were riding with our horses yesterday, but something came and ate them and now we’re in the Wastelands alone. We could really use some help.”

The man’s face softened. “Alright, the name is Abner. I’ll go see if you can-LARS!”

Another man, Lars apparently, who looked like he’d just woken up came over to Abner. “What’s up? Who are they?”

“Two lost travellers, who need a ride. Go get Master Payne.”

“No need, Abner,” Gil and Bang turned around to look at who must have been the head of the circus. “I am already here. I heard their story.” He turned to Bang and Gil. “If you two are willing to pull your weight, we’ll gladly drop you off at the next town. Welcome aboard, William, Dupree.”

“Thank you, sir. But our friends call me Bill and her Bang.” After noticing the looks on their faces at Bang’s nickname, he shrugged and just laughed. “Long story.”

“Alright, so you two have your bedrolls? Good, no need to get you anything other than a basic cart to ride in during the day then.”

“Novices.” Gil and Band turned to see a woman with long green hair and a crutch carrying a girl who-

_ No. _

It couldn’t be possible. They had seen the body. It couldn’t be her, but…

_ Agatha? _

“Bill. Bill! You and Bang alright?” Gil turned to see Bang looking at him, just as confused as he was, and Master Payne staring at them, a questioning look on his face.

“Yeah, yeah we’re alright. That girl...she looks like a friend from back home. What’s her name?”

“Back home...like, Skifandar back home?” This appeared to raise some eyebrows.

“No, no, not Skifandar. Why Skifandar?”

“The girl with green hair, Zeetha? She’s from Skifandar, but has no idea how to get home-”

“Oh, not her. The one she was carrying. With the blond hair?”

“Oh.” Master Payne calmed down. “That’s our newest member, Agatha Clay.”

Gill didn’t register anything after that other than the world going black and Dupree reaching out to grab him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap for today folks. I wish I could make it longer, but I have online classes now, so sorry.
> 
> I love it when you leave feedback and advice.
> 
> Thank you and goodnight!


	2. Fun facts with Krosp: haircuts don't change scent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil is in shock, Bang is in shock, and Krosp has warnings to give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a very long chapter, but a rather essential one for the plot moving forward. Enjoy!

“Bill? Bill? Are you okay, kid?”

Gil woke up to see Master Payne splashing water in his face. “You passed out for a minute there, Bill. Any idea why?”

Gil’s mind was still reeling.  _ Agatha.  _ There was no way that this was a coincidence. But the body, the disappearance, the idea that a pack of carnies were capable of tricking him, who was the  _ heir to the Wulfenbach Empire _ -

“I said, do you know why you fainted, Bill?”

“Oh, uh…” Bang jumped in before Gil could come up with an excuse. “Neither of us have really had anything to eat or drink in the last two days, and we’ve barely gotten any sleep. It’s just exhaustion; he’s only showing it first because he tried to fight whatever ate our horses. The idiot.”

“Oh, alright then.” Abner pulled Gil up. “Go find these two a cart to ride in, they’ll need some rest. Not together, of course, they need to actually sleep.”

Gil sputtered. “You think-that  _ we- _ are _ -together _ ?”

“EWW!” Bang made a face and stuck out her tongue. “No, why would I ever want  _ him _ ? He’s an idiot hung up on his ex.”

“We’re...cousins. Not together in any way. No.”

Abner paused. “Alright, stick them in...Lars, I think we give them the tool cart for today, and figure out a more permanent place later.”

“Alright, Abner, I’ll see to it that they’re sorted.”

* * *

“How is she alive? The body, I, we-we saw the body. It was hers.” An idea came to Gil “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“From what I could tell, that man, Abner, didn’t seem to be part of the circus back in the town. But here he is, with that girl Pix. And the body was so badly burned-it isn’t out of the question that they doctored the body, and put the ring on it to fool us.”

Bang looked up. “So what you’re saying is, everything back there, all of that, was a lie?”

“That’s right.”

Gil and Bang jumped, and turned to the pile of pillows in the corner, and watched as a large white cat in a red and gold jacket came out of it. “What are you?”

“Krosp, Emperor of all cats. And the only one in this circus who knows both Agatha’s true identity and yours, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach.”

“How did you-”

Krosp waved it off. “All you humans forget that no amount of hair changes will alter your smell. I knew who it was instantly. Now, listen up.”

Gil and Bang listened up.

“Agatha is here, in this circus, going to Mechanicsburg. No one else here knows her true identity, and if you reveal it, I will reveal yours, and then you can kiss this circus goodbye. And I wouldn’t recommend telling Agatha either, because it will end very badly for you if you do. Understand?”

Gil nodded.

“Well, actually I only heard about half of that, so…”

Gil punched Bang in the shoulder. “We got it.”

“Good.” Krosp got up and left. “And if you plan to stay in the circus, I’d suggest talking to either Zeetha of Dame Aedith about a joint act. Zeetha does sword work and Dame Aedith does knife throwing, and both of you are lousy actors.”

Gil laughed. “If we stay, I could just buy my way on with work. They probably need a competent mechanic here.”

Krosp smirked. “I wouldn’t be so sure.” And vanished.

They waited until he was gone, and then exchanged glances. “Well, that went...alright I guess.”

“Alright?” Bang was furious. “Gil, what if he tells the circus who we are?”

“That’s the theory of MAD. Mutually Assured Destruction. If Krosp rats us out, he knows we can expose Agatha, and vice versa. Neither of us will make the first move.”

“Alright, smart guy.” Bang sat down and looked off into the distance. “Let’s hope this works.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is, folks! And yes, most of the circus knows exactly who Gil is, or at least Master Payne and Abner. But no one wants to say it, so we get a story!
> 
> please give advice/feedback
> 
> alright imma go freak out over school being cancelled


	3. Gil really, really doesn't want to be a hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the circus now in Zumzum, Gil needs to figure out a way to convince the circus to let them permanently stay before they're kicked out, and Othar sure isn't helping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a long one, folks. In fact, longer than the previous two combined.
> 
> A lot of the talk about setting up the stage, the phrases and slang they use for theater, is all taken from my experiences as stage crew, so some of it may not be 100% circus accurate.
> 
> Thanks to the Discord team for helping me brainstorm the Othar part a few weeks back.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Alright, welcome to ZumZum, everyone!”

Master Payne’s call was enough to get Gil to jump out of the bunk he was sleeping in. The ride to ZumZum had been long, enough time for Gil to get to know some of the other circus members; Abner and Pix clearly had a thing between them, everyone was extremely protective of Balthazar (and after knowing him for only a few days, Gil could understand why), the Countess was the only one who could really get Master Payne to listen to her, Dame Aedith was very much dark magic and got along with Dupree a little  _ too  _ well, one of the members was over 130 years old, Yeti and Zeetha were...not really a relationship, but definitely friends with benefits at the very least, and Agatha…

Well, Gil hadn’t talked to Agatha really. He had been “introduced” to her, of course, but other than that he had mostly avoided her. He didn’t want to slip up or say something stupid, and Zeetha was torturing her enough with training that it wasn’t worth adding anything to it.

Speaking of Zeetha, Gil had made it his mission to keep her and Bang separate as much as possible; if Bang knew what Zeetha had done, Gil wouldn’t be able to stop her and their covers would be blown instantly. He just had to wait that out.

“Bill, Bang, are you in there?” Gil was brought back to reality by Abner banging on the door of his cart.

“I am. I think Bang is talking to Dame Aedith about knife throwing techniques.” Gil pulled a clean shirt over his head. “You can come in.”

Abner opened up the cart door. “Well, welcome to ZumZum. This is where you two get off, correct?”

“Oh.” Gil had forgotten that the cover was only for the trip to the town. “Yeah, I guess, but I was really looking forward to watching the show this evening.”

Abner smiled. “Nothing is stopping you from you and Bang sticking around until after the show tonight. We’d be happy to have you two backstage, as long as Bang can stay quiet.”

Gil smiled. “You’d be surprised, but she can stay incredibly quiet when she wants to. She just usually doesn’t want to.”

“So I’ve noticed,” sighed Abner. “Well, I hope you two enjoy the show.” And with that, left the cart.

Gil got up and smiled. Well, step one completed. Now just to figure out how to get the circus to let them stay full time.

* * *

“Bang, come on! They need help setting up the lights!”

Bang laughed. “Sorry, but that sounds like a job for you, not me, Brainiac!”

Gil sighed. It was great that the circus was allowing them to stay and help with the play, but it turned out that Bang wasn’t required to help. They should just stick her onstage to help out Zeetha or Dame Aedith with one of their acts; she’d do a lot better out there than back here.

But no such luck, they had to set up the stage, which was, as Lars put it, the “job for the new people who still can’t act.” At least it was a job.

“Bill, are those lights done? Two minutes until house opens up.” Abner was frustrated, most likely because they had to perform right next to a bunch of hanging jagers.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m finishing up.”

“Hey, that’s wrong!” Gil turned to see Balthazar putting the last chairs down. “You’re supposed to say ‘thank you house’!”

“Well then, thank you house.” Gil connected the last cable. “The lights are all set up.”

“Good. Everyone backstage now, people will be entering soon.”

* * *

The opening acts were pretty great. Dame Aedith had done amazing knife work, which ended up being enough to entertain Dupree for the rest of the evening as they talked quietly about techniques, with Zeetha occasionally butting in from where she sat on a crate.

Agatha walked out, and Gil could hear her performance; it was brilliant, she sounded perfect for the part, a dangerous madgirl who could destroy the world with ease. But she came off looking shocked, which didn’t add up until Gil heard why.

“Is that Othar Trygvassen out there?”

“What?!” Gil must have been way too loud, because he immediately heard a half dozen people telling him to shut up.

He walked over to where the Countess and Balthazar’s mother (Trish Belloptrix, that was her name) were helping her to change. “Oh yeah, we’ve seen him about six times in the past year alone. He gets a lot of popcorn.”

“And he hasn’t tried to kill anyone?”

This confused the Countess. “Of course not! He gets free refills!”

Gil walked over to Agatha as she threw on the rest of her costume. “Othar Trygvassen? You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Agatha shivered. “I could never forget him.”

“Well, we’d best be on our guard. I’ll tell Bang.”

This seemed to confuse Agatha for a minute, but then she seemed relieved. “Well then, glad to know there’s someone else here who at least kind of understands.”

Gil smiled. “You’re on in sixty seconds, Miss Clay. Good luck with the rest of your performance.”

Agatha smiled at him. “Thank you, Gil Holzfӓller.” With that, she flashed a grin at him, and walked onstage.

* * *

“Well, of course she knows it, or at least suspects it. I mean, if they ever write this down, they sure as hell won’t be calling it  _ Boy  _ Genius.”

Gil facepalmed. He was trying to have a serious conversation on the half taken apart stage, but as usual, all Dupree could do was make jokes.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Dupree. But I’m worried. If she knows, or suspects, who else does?”

Bang sighed. “It could just be her, y’know. She spent a lot of time with you on Castle Wulfenbach, so she’d have a better chance of recognizing you than any of these carnies.”

“First off, Krosp recognized us as well. Second off, these carnies tricked us into believing she was dead. So there’s no telling how-”

Dupree cut him off. “Krosp knows because he has a super sense of smell. As for the ‘carnies’ tricking us, remember that circus people fake things to survive.” She got up and placed her hand on Gil’s shoulder. “Besides, right now we have to worry about Othar Trygvassen, and-WHAT IN EUROPA WAS THAT?!”

Gil bolted out from where they were to see a person wearing a mask riding a very large bear, who seemed to be attacking the town. The people were trying to right back, but it didn’t look like it was going very well.

Without thinking, he jumped out from his hiding spot. “Hey, over here, monster!” And he jumped on it.

In retrospect Gil could see how much of a terrible idea that was, as he was immediately thrown off and against a wall. As he picked himself up, he could see the bear barreling towards him. “DUPREE!”

“Got it!” Bang grabbed a knife and threw it at the person riding the bear, who grabbed their shoulder in pain. “Come on, punk! Let’s see if you can fight!” With that, she drew her sword and attacked the rider, leaving Gil to deal with the bear.

Great.

Gil picked himself up, and saw the bear turn to attack Bang. “Oh, no you don’t.” He grabbed a nearby item-probably a piece of wreckage-and threw it at the bear.

Definitely a bad idea, as throwing something that isn’t explosive, on fire, or very sharp at a bear is just going to make them mad.

The bear ran toward him, and Gil could barely jump out of the way before it crashed into the wall. It then turned around, and began to run at Gil again, who yet again only just managed to dodge it.

Gil wasn’t so lucky the third time. The bear hit him against the ground, and jumped on top of him. Gil thought it was over, and braced himself for the bear’s claws.

“Never fear. OTHAR TRYGVASSEN,  _ Gentleman Adventurer,  _ is here!”

That was possibly the only time that Gil had ever been glad to hear that ridiculous battle cry.

Othar somehow managed to get the bear off of Gil, and Gil managed to get up, only to see the rider attack Othar and pin a sword to his throat. Dupree ran up to attack the rider, but was stopped by the bear.

“SCHTOP! Hyu horr’ble monster-y ting of evil!”

Gil turned to see three jagers-the ones that were being hung earlier, if he wasn’t mistaken-move in to attack the rider, who saw them, threw Othar up into the air, and proceeded to run away, being pursued by the jagers as they screamed “VE HUNT!”

“Are you alright there, young hero?” Gil looked up to see Othar offering his hand to help Gil up. Gil slapped it away and pulled himself up. “I don’t need your help. And I’m not a hero.”

Othar laughed. “Are you serious? You jumped right into battle there without thinking; that’s a hero if I’ve ever seen one. Why, as my apprentice, you could-”

“NO! I am not going to be your apprentice! There is no way you could ever make me.” Gil started to leave to help Bang.

“Are you sure?” Othar trailed behind him, still trying to get him to listen. “With the proper help and training-”

“YES I MOST CERTAINLY AM!” And with that, Gil turned his back and strode off.

“What did he want?” Bang accepted Gil’s hand as he pulled her up.

“For me to be his apprentice hero,” Gil muttered.

“HA! Want me to go stab him for that?”

Gil smiled. “No, Dupree. We have a cover to maintain.”

“Oh, do you now?”

Gil and Bang jumped to see Lars staring at them. “I’m waiting for an answer…”

“Lars, I…” Gil paused and thought for a moment. There was a way he could make this work for them, but it would be hard to pull off.

Gil took a deep breath. “We were talking about...well, we weren’t lost in the woods. We saw the circus in the last town you were in, and wanted to join, but never got the chance to ask you. We were...trying to figure out how to get you to let us...join permanently. We really like being part of the group.” Gil nudged Dupree and shot her a  _ play along _ look.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve always wanted to leave home, and the circus...it just sounded so...fun, y’know?” She looked at Gil, who gave a small nod.

Lars began to laugh. “No need to worry about convincing us. It’s been great having you two aboard! I don’t think it would be any trouble convincing Master Payne to let you stay permanently!” He began to leave. “In fact, I’ll go talk to him now! No need to worry!”

Once they were gone, Bang turned to Gil. “That was good improvising. But you’re going to need to talk to Agatha if we stay, you know that, right?” Gil sighed. “You can’t keep hiding forever.”

“Okay, okay!” Gil threw her hands up. “This week, I’ll try to talk to her! If I haven’t told her by the end of the week, feel free to step in and do it for me!” Gil didn’t want Bang anywhere near his love life, so that was the best motivation for him to take it into his own hands.

“Alright, I’m going to go find my other knife. You head back to the carts.” Bang waved as he left. “Good luck with the romance, kid!”

Gil rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Bang.” And he headed back to the camp.

Back to what was for the next however long, his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap on chapter three, my friends. It may seem like not enough chaos for seeing Othar, but believe me, the next chapter is going to be filled with chaos like you have never seen. A little sneak peek: it involves Zeetha's backstory.
> 
> please leave advice/constructive criticism, it is a huge help
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	4. Sparring sessions and knife tag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil needs to talk to Agatha. Too bad Bang is more up for trying to kill Zeetha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I don't really have much to say, but thanks to the Discord group for the knife tag idea!
> 
> There is a lot of action in this chapter, and also emotion. Hold on
> 
> Enjoy!

Gil took a deep breath and stepped into the forest where Agatha was training with Zeetha. It had been three days since the circus had left ZumZum, and Dupree had finally gotten Gil to work up the courage to go talk to Agatha.

Despite the hours of preparation he had put into what he was going to say the previous night and Dupree following him closely into the forest, Gil was terrified. He didn’t know how this was going to go, and for all he knew it could be what would get him and Bang kicked out of the circus.

But he wouldn’t be able to avoid Agatha forever. He had to do this.

He approached the clearing where Zeetha was hitting Agatha with a stick as she attempted to dodge the attacks. It wasn’t going very well.

He took another deep breath. “You know, there are better ways to defend against attacks, Agatha.”

Agatha and Zeetha turned to look at him. “How long have you been there?” Zeetha leaned against her stick, and looked quite upset.

“Only a few minutes. I can’t help but notice that, while Agatha is light on her feet, she can’t block to save her life and has no idea how to use the surrounding terrain.” Gil walked into the clearing. “You know, I’m somewhat of a fighter myself. If you want me to help-”

“No thank you.” Agatha’s voice was cold. “Zeetha can teach me just fine. Besides, there’s a whole ‘ancient tradition’ of not teaching outsiders any Skifandrian techniques except through this special bond thing.”

“You know, said traditions do not hold anything against the occasional sparring match.” Zeetha tossed Gil another stick, about the same size as hers. “Show me what you’ve got, kid.”

Gil grinned. “Just using the sticks, or does anything go?”

Zeetha pondered for a minute, and then a shit-eating grin covered her face. “Let’s make this interesting; anything goes.”

“OOH!” All three of them turned to see Bang jump out of a tree and sit on a rock on the edge of the clearing. “I get to watch your butt get kicked!”

“Don’t count on it.” Agatha sat down next to Bang.

Gil took a deep breath and took a moment to adjust his footwork and his handhold on the stick. Zeetha did the same, keeping low to the ground in a similar stance as his. “On three?”

Zeetha laughed. “So you can know exactly when the attack is going to hit?” She then bolted at him, and Gil only just managed to dodge to the right and intercept her stick with his own.

“Hey, no fair!” Gil cringed as soon as he said that; he sounded like a whiny child.

“Anything goes, remember?” And Zeetha moved to attack him again.

“That’s true, isn’t it?” Gil grinned and pulled a small device out of his pocket, and stuck it on Zeetha’s stick as she tried to attack again. “Have fun with that!”

“What is-OW! HOT!” Zeetha then dropped her stick on the ground, which began smoldering and burning.

“A small device that generates a massive heat signature. Anything that’s it’s placed on can heat up hot enough to burn your hands half off in seconds.” Gil grinned. “Now, lets see if you can use those swords or if they’re just for show.”

“Well, they can’t be any more for show than your smart boy routine.” Zeetha jumped back as Gil lunged at her with several attacks, flipping over several times and jumping onto a low tree branch. _“Nyaaaa.”_ She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh, real mature!” Gil ran back several paces.

“Giving up already, Hero Boy? You can take on a bear but not a Skifandrian?”

“Ha! No,” Gil reached into his coat and pulled out another device. “Just giving myself decent range.”

He fired the device, and was pushed back into the ground by the recoil. Zeetha jumped out of the way of the net with ease, and when Gil pulled himself up, he couldn’t see her.

He ran up to a tree and put his back to it, holding his stick close, ready to attack.

Five seconds later he had fallen flat on his face. He looked up, and saw Zeetha jump down on him from a tree, and next thing he knew, her swords were pinned against his throat.

“Alright, alright, good fight. You win.”

Zeetha laughed. “Of course I win. You’re just a walk in the park to me; I’ve taken down an entire fortress of pirates single handedly, when I was-

She was promptly cut off by an attack from Dupree.

* * *

Great.

Wonderful. Perfect. Just great.

Gil knew that logically, Bang would find out about Zeetha eventually, but he just wanted it to have waited a little longer.

But nope, now one of his fighting friends was attacking his new fighting friend with a crazed look in her eyes.

The intent to kill.

Bang pinned Zeetha onto the ground, but Zeetha managed to use her momentum to kick Bang behind her and get up. “What in Ashtara’s name? What’s your problem?!”

“YOU KILLED THEM ALL! MY ENTIRE CREW!” Bang drew her sword and lunged at Zeetha, who blocked the attack. “MY FRIENDS! MY FAMILY! THEY’RE ALL DEAD, BECAUSE OF _YOU!!”_

Gil knew how deadly Dupree could be in a fight, and Zeetha would be dead by now if not for them being relatively evenly matched, and Dupree striking out in anger. She wasn’t thinking clearly, and Zeetha had many openings to take her down, but didn’t take them. She didn’t want to hurt her attacker.

That...made the situation slightly easier. All Gil had to do was restrain Bang and talk some sense into her, right?

Right.

Gil sighed. “Dupree, stand down! That’s an order!”

“I don’t work for you anymore, Sparky.” Dupree lunged for another attack, which Zeetha blocked. “Me and your father had a deal-” Another attack, another dodge. “I serve him until I find who destroyed my fortress-” Attack. Dodge and block. “And TODAY IS THAT DAY!”

“You mean, it was your people who captured me?!” This seemed to trigger something in Zeetha. Great, as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, she then attacked Dupree. “They killed the explorers I was with!” Swords clashed. “They held me prisoner!” They broke apart. “They were going to sell me into slavery, for Gwangi’s sake! Of course I escaped and fought them, what would you have done?!”

This seemed to falter Dupree for a moment. “What.”

“Your crew? They attacked the ship of an explorer who I was with. They killed everyone on board except for me.” The two were no longer actively fighting, but instead circling each other, silently daring each other to make the first move. “They only saved me because they liked my hair, or something. They were going to sell me into slavery, to turn me into an object. They are the reason I have no way home. I feel like I had the right to fight them.”

Bang began to lower her sword. “You mean-they attacked your ship?”

“Yes. Why?”

Bang fully lowered her sword and spat into the ground. “I told them-I told them specifically ‘lay low until I return. Don’t attack anyone, don’t try to pick someone up to sell into slavery.’ They disobeyed direct orders-I swear, they’d better hope that any of them who are left are dead because when I find them-”

Zeetha lowered her swords as well, and stood up out of battle position. “No need to worry about that. I...I’m pretty sure I killed them all.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. They were you crew, your friends, and family, and I killed them all.” She took a step toward Bang. “They may have captured me, but I killed them all nonetheless.”

She kneeled in front of Bang. “It is a Skifandrian tradition, that if one person kills anothers family, the other person has the right to choose a punishment to inflict upon them.” She lowered her head. “Go ahead. Do it.”

Bang paused. She seemed to think for a moment, then bent down and looked in Zeetha’s eyes. “I have been chasing revenge for years intent on killing the people who destroyed my crew very slowly and painfully, only to meet you, find out my crew disobeyed my direct orders and learn that you're one of my friends. I am sorry for what they did to you, and-”

She sighed. “I’m not good with words at all, but I know this; you’re a good friend. I have had more fun in the two weeks I’ve spent here, with this circus than I have had in the last three years. And it would suck to lose a friend who might actually have a chance at kicking my butt in a sparring session.”

Bang reached out her hand to help Zeetha up. “I’m still mad at you, but at the same time I’m not, and I hate that. But I won’t kill you.”

Zeetha laughed. “Same. I think I’ve killed enough pirates for one lifetime.”

They sat in silence for a minute, and then Zeetha spoke up again. “You know, my mother always said that the best way to sort out complicated emotions is through a fight of some kind.”

Bang perked up. “I’m up for, say, a rousing game of knife tag if you’re interested.”

Zeetha grinned. “You’re on.”

Agatha looked at Gil as the two fighting girls broke off into a sparring session. "What just happened?"

Gil shrugged. He didn't care anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that's it for now folks! Don't worry, Gil and Agatha will talk next chapter, I promise. I just felt that there was already a lot of pain in this one, so I ended it there.
> 
> please leave feedback and advice, it does help a lot
> 
> thank you and now i'm going to go cry over today's emotional train wreck of a page


	5. Finally, they talk!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil and Agatha finally get it together enough to apologize and talk, much to Zeetha and Bang's glee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally get to talk! And both of Gil's sisters tease him, and there is lots of talking in this, so have fun!
> 
> Thanks to the Discord team for the brainstorming, and that Warrior Cats series for the cat insults.
> 
> alsothisisromancewrittenbysomeonewhohasneverconfessedtosomeoneproperlysoitmightbegarbage
> 
> Enjoy!

“STAB! You’re it!”

Gil laughed as Zeetha managed to hit Bang with a knife again. The two had been sparring, trying to hit each other with knives for the last hour, while he and Agatha watched, placing bets on who would win.

“I’m betting on ten minutes.” Gil looked over quizingly at Agatha. “Really? All their other matches have lasted less than five.”

Agatha rolled her eyes. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m betting it’s ten minutes until Krosp comes and tells us everyone is leaving and we have to run to catch up.”

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.”

The two of them sat in awkward silence for the next few minutes, until Agatha broke it. “So, Dupree “Bang” Wolfhard is a pirate queen?”

“Uh...well…” It took Gil a moment to remember that those were their pseudonyms. “Um, well, she was a pirate queen. Maybe still is? I don’t know much about pirate politics.”

“Really?” Agatha looked over at him. “I’d think that the heir to an empire would be well versed in all types of politics, even the unofficial ones.”

“Hey, it’s hard to learn about illegal politics. Besides, my father was more focused on peacekeeping, and-”

“HA! I knew it!” Agatha jumped up. “You  _ are  _ Gilgamesh Wulfenbach.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Zeetha pulled herself up from being pinned down by Bang. “You’re  _ who?” _

Gil sighed. No point in hiding now. “Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Heir to the Empire.”

“Wow.” Zeetha picked up her sword and began walking over to them. “Looks like you were right, Agatha.” She turned to Dupree. “And...you’re the pirate girl who was with him when you showed up at the circus the night Agatha showed up.”

“That would be me, although I too, use a pseudonym.” Bang stuck out her hand for Zeetha to shake. “Bangladesh DuPree, exiled pirate queen, at your service.”

Zeetha took her hand and shook it. “Zeetha, Daughter of Chump, Princess Guardian of Skifander. Pleased to meet you.”

Gil could have sworn he had misheard her. “Wait, you’re the daughter of who?”

Zeetha sighed and rolled her eyes, as if she’d had to explain this many times. “Chump. My father, a great warrior, and  _ yes,  _ I know what it means in your language. Amusing, right?”

Gil didn’t know how to respond to that, but he luckily didn’t have to. Krosp, as predicted, came running up with Lars. “There you all are! We’ve been looking for you, now come one! We’re moving out in fifteen minutes.” And with that, they left.

“We’ll be right there!” Zeetha yelled after him. “Come on, Bang. Let’s leave these two Sparks to talk alone.” She began to walk back.

“Good luck, don’t be too long!” Bang smiled and tipped her hat as she followed Zeetha, leaving Agatha and Gil alone.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute, until Gil decided to take the leap first. He took in a deep breath, and started with, “So…”, but Agatha cut him off.

“Gil, I’m so sorry. You were completely right, and I didn’t listen, and I’m sorry.”

This confused Gil. What did she have to apologize for? “About…”

“Othar! I was so mad at you, and then within the hour, I threw him out of an airship too!” Ah. That explained it.

“And you felt bad for throwing-”

She cut him off again. “I felt bad for yelling at you!”

“Ah. That’s okay. Othar does that to people.” Another awkward pause. “For the record, I’m sorry too. About the whole...proposal and stuff.”

“Oh.” Agatha grinned. “Don’t worry, it was sweet, albeit a bit rushed, wouldn’t you say?” She was teasing him, and he was enjoying it, dammit.

“Yeah, it really was.” They laughed, and then once again relapsed into awkward silence.

“So, where are you headed?” Gil knew it was probably Mechanicsburg, but he wanted to make sure.

“Mechanicsburg. Lilith said that the Castle Heterodyne would help, and since she is one of the few people I trust-or trusted, I guess-completely, I figured that was my best bet.” She paused. “Theo’s going to meet me there, and maybe Sleipnir.”

“Wait, what?” This shocked Gil. “I thought Theo was going to look for his father’s lost lab in India, and...I had no idea they were going to Mechanicsburg. Why didn’t they tell me?”

Agatha sighed. “Can you blame them? They hadn’t heard from you in years, and you hid your identity from them. Of course they wouldn’t fully trust you!”

Gil felt his anger deflate. “Yeah, I can understand that.” He then realized something.

“By the way, Punch and Judy? They’re alive, I think. My father gathered up their remains and took them to a revivication room as soon as Von Pinn did...what she did.” Agatha perked up. “I don’t know all the details, but I figured that he might have wanted answers, or just a chance to talk to his old friends, but I think they’re still alive.”

“Really?” Agatha’s voice was on the verge of breaking. “Are you sure?”

Gil sighed. “No, but...it feels like something my father would try and do, so...there’s a chance.”

Agatha hugged him. “Thank you for telling me.” She pulled back. “Even if they aren’t alive, it’s still good to have...hope.”

“Hope is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

They began to walk back to the camp.

“Agatha, if you’re going to try and enter Castle Heterodyne, you need to know this; it’s a death trap, meant for the worst criminals the Empire has captured. Getting in there is going to be almost impossible, and even when you’re inside, the chances of being able to prove that you’re a Heterodyne to it and fix it are slim, at best.”

Agatha stopped. “Gil, if you’re trying to stop me from going into the Castle, from claiming my town, my birthright, then you can give up any hopes of a union between the House of Heterodyne and the Wulfenbach Empire.”

“Okay. Understood, you’re going into the Castle.” Gil then stopped dead in his tracks when he realized what she’d said. “Wait, what? Do you mean…?”

Agatha turned around, an innocent looking smile on her face. “Do I mean what?”

“You mean-about the proposal....you would do it? Marry me?” Gil was tripping over himself, and turning bright red from embarrassment, but he didn’t care.

“Well, maybe try courting me for a bit. Impress me. But…” She took a breath and looked down. “You are a really great guy, and I do think that, well, ahhh…”

She trailed off, looked up at him, looked down again, seemed to think for a moment, muttered something that sounded rather like “screw it” under her breath, and then pulled Gil into a kiss.

Gil was shocked, then leaned in again, wrapping her tightly in his arms. They stayed that way for who-knows-how long, wrapped in what felt like perfection, until they heard a branch break off to the side.

Gil jerked his head up, only to see Lars staring at them, looking very awkward and flustered. “Ah, yeah, we’re um, leaving now, so, ah...yeah, you guys should get moving.” He then left very quickly.

“Oh, no.” Agatha looked guilty. “He was really nice, I hope I didn’t let him down or anything…”

Gil interrupted her. “Let me talk to him. You go get changed.” Agatha looked down to see she was still wearing the Skifandrian training outfit.

“Alright, just...be nice, okay?” She began to run to her wagon.

“Lars! Wait up!”

Gil ran up to Lars, who was still looking pretty flustered. “So, ah, about back there…”

Lars laughed. “Eh, don’t worry about it. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

Gil paused. “You mean, there was nothing between the two of you? I thought, and Agatha did as well…”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I mean, Agatha’s cute and smart and all, but you and her...you’re clearly more suited for her than I would be.” He lightly punched Gil on the shoulder. “Good job, Holzfӓller, just take care of her and don’t screw this up, alright?”

Gil laughed. “No problem, Lars.”

They stood still for a moment, and shared a look of what could only be described as silent understanding and mutual respect.

“I’m going to go make sure the last of the stuff in my wagon is secure. You should do the same.” And with that, Lars left.

Gil smiled. He was rather happy with what just went down. He started to head back to the wagon, only for Zeetha to jump in front of him out of nowhere.

“So, how’d it go?”

Gil sighed. “First off, don’t sneak up on me like that. Second off, it went alright. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Zeetha grinned. “Well, first off for you, Agatha is my Zumil, which means she is my family, which means that it is my business. Second off, Skifander’s patron goddess is Ashtara, who controls loooove.” As she said this she began performing a little dance, and her voice took on a very mocking tone.

“Alright, alright! If you want the details, ask Agatha.” Gil sighed. “I’m already going to get teased enough by Dupree.”

Zeetha walked off gleefully to Agatha’s wagon, and called over her shoulder, “good luck, kiddo!”

Gil sighed and walked toward his own wagon.

Upon arriving there, he was immediately attacked by Dupree, as she grabbed him from behind and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. “Soooo, how’d it go, Lover Boy?”

Gil rolled his eyes and laughed. “Like I told Zeetha, it went alright. We talked for a bit, admitted our...mutual attraction, and she kissed me.”

“Congrats, dork, you finally have a chance after all those years of failing in Paris!” Bang wrapped him in another hug, then stood behind him, holding onto his shoulders. “Just think of all that could happen next. Your father is going to be  _ so  _ upset, and if this won’t make a good story someday, I don’t know what will!”

“Okay, Bang, I get it.” Gil playfully pushed her away. “Why do you insist on getting so involved in my love life?”

“And why does your love life involve Agatha?”

Gil and Dupree jumped to see Krosp walk out from behind a pillow in the corner, and straight up to Gil. “Now let’s get one thing clear, Mouse Brain. I don’t like you much, but Agatha does. So, as long as you’re good to her then we are good. But if you mess with me, or her, your shoes are mine, got it?”

Gil backed away a bit. “Yes, I understand. But if you think for even a minute that I would ever consider hurting Agatha-”

“Don’t care.” Krosp turned tail and began to leave, “Just stay out of my way.” And he was gone.

“That is one crazy cat,” said Dupree as she sat down on the bed.

“Well, he  _ is  _ Vapnoople’s creation. Can’t expect him to be totally...sane, I guess.” Gil went over to the horses to make sure they were equipped.

“Woah, you mean Dr. Dim?” Bang jumped up. “Why isn’t that thing in a cage?”

Gil sighed. “Well, first off, he escaped, second off, he hasn’t attempted to hurt the Empire or anything; we have no reason to lock him up.” He kicked the horses into moving. “And besides, it would upset Agatha.”

“Aw, Lover Boy, you really are growing up and falling in love.” Bang went to close the cart door, leaving Gil alone with the horses. “But who knows what may happen next?”

The door closed. “Yeah, who knows?” Gil stared off into the distance, thinking about Agatha, Mechanicsburg, Punch and Judy, Krosp, the fight between Bang and Zeetha, and the kiss. It had all happened in just a few hours, but to Gil it felt like a week.

“Who knows?”

* * *

In the props wagon, Moxana began to reorganize her cards.

Time to start a new game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's all for now folks! Moxana just made sense there, I didn't plan it.
> 
> And yes, I know some people are going to be sad about Lars and Agatha, but in this AU, Lars saw that Agatha and Gil had a thing, so he didn't really catch feelings.
> 
> please leave advice/feedback, it does help
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	6. Talk of family, death rays, and training methods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil speaks with other circus members, and begins to learn some stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly fluff, bonding, filler, etc. But there is important character development, so...here it is!

“Bill! Can you go help Zeetha get water? We need extra for the soup tonight!”

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Embi.” Gil scooted out from under the cart he was working on. “Bang! Go help Zeetha with the water.”

“Yes, sir!” Bang gave a mock salute as she jumped down from the cart, causing the floor to bounce and the stair to the cart to hit Gil in the head. “Going to fetch the water, sir!” She ran off after Zeetha, who threw two buckets at her and attacked her, as per their new ritual.

Gil rubbed the bump on his head as he sat up. “Idiots.” He smiled as he said this. “A bunch of crazy idiots.”

“Your sister seems to be getting along nicely with Zeetha.” Gil turned to see Balthazar leaning against the wagon, a large smile on his face as he watched Zeetha and Bang race each other to a nearby river.

“Who?”

Balthazar looked quizingly at him, as he pulled himself up onto the wagon stairs and sat down. “Dupree. Your sister? She and Zeetha are getting along very well.”

Gil snorted. “She’s not my sister. Why would you think that; we look nothing alike!”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, the way you two act, I figured you must be related, siblings maybe. One of you could have been adopted, I guess.”

“Bang isn’t my sister. I don’t have a sister, or a brother, or grandparents or even a mother for that matter.” Gil sighed, staring off into the distance. “Just me and my father, for as long as I can remember. Whenever I asked about my other family, he’d just say it didn’t matter.”

“Oh.” Blathazar seemed to realize what kind of a childhood trauma landmine he’d just stood on and backed up. “Well, they always say that a production crew or a traveling show becomes a second family to all those in it.”

He looked at Gil. “Even if you are strange, and not related to us at all, and you only joined three weeks ago, you’re family. Everyone is family here.”

“Balthazar! Come help get firewood!” Trish called across the camp.

“Well, my mother calls.” Balthazar jumped down from the wagon stairs. “Good luck fixing the wagon, Bill!”

Gil grinned and slid back under the wagon, wrench in hand. As he began to work, he thought about what Balthazar had said.  _ Chosen family.  _ The idea seemed strange, but as he thought about it, it made more and more sense.

If you’re adopted, you can have two families. When you marry, you become family to those who are related to your spouse. Why couldn’t you be family with close friends, who you spend every day with and work with for years? Or the students who he had grown up with on Castle Wulfenbach? Agatha, Bang and Zeetha?

They were there for him,and had cared about him. Gil remembered being on the Castle, with just his father, and feeling very...unhappy. But in Paris as he went on adventures with Bang and Wooster and Collette, and playing with Tarvek when he was little, and now, spending time in the circus and enjoying every minute of it, he was happy.

_ Maybe this is what family is about,  _ he thought to himself,  _ maybe there is more to it than blood ties. _

* * *

“Do you still not have a death ray?”

Gil pulled himself out from under the cart again to see Agatha, who too was covered in oil and grease, with her goggles over her eyes. “Ah, no?”

Agatha sighed. “So, to be clear, you’re the heir to the Empire-”

“Shh, not so loud!” Gil jumped up from the ground and tried to get her to be quiet, but she was on a roll.

“-son of a tyrant, traveling in the Wastelands with an exiled pirate queen and you have no decent way of defending yourself?”

“Well, I’ve never really needed them, back on the Castle…”

“But you’re not on the Castle now. You’re in the middle of the Wastelands. So, you need a death ray.”

“Zeetha and Bang don’t use death rays…” Gil knew the argument was pointless, but he was going to try anyway.

“Zeetha has taken out an entire pirate fortress single handed, and Bang is a literal pirate queen. They don’t need death rays.” She grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him back to her cart. “We’re making you a death ray.”

“So,” Agatha said once they had arrived and sat down, “any ideas for what kind of ray you want? Size? Power source? Projection type? Do you want something like your lightning generator?”

“Agatha, you sound like you’re taking my order at a bar. But now that you mention it,” Gil reached into his coat and began to pull out some sketches. “I have been working on some ways to improve it, although they will need some equipment.”

He placed his diagrams on the table. “This here is an atmospheric ionizing engine prototype. It, along with several others depending on the size of the area you need and amount of lightning you want, would charge the air so I could use this staff I designed-” he pulled out another sketch. “-as a focus device.”

Agatha mulled over the design. “Interesting. But what if we made the engine smaller, and attached it to the focus device?”

“But that would create something incredibly unstable, and not the best weapon...”

“Not if we put insulation on it, like this.” Agatha leaned over and began to add something to the sketch.

“Ooh, that could work, but what if-”

And they stayed there, working on sketches for Gil’s first death ray for the entire night, until Zeetha jumped in on them to grab Agatha for training.

* * *

“Why are you so tough on her?”

Gil had just watched Agatha endure a training session with Zeetha that involved a lot of rocks being thrown at her and her desperately trying to dodge them, and was beginning to question Zeetha’s teaching methods.

“What do you mean? Skifandrian training is meant to be tough, to push you to your limit to become the best you can be.” Zeetha put down the sword she was sharpening. “It’s the way it is; it was hard for me, and now it’s hard for her.”

“Yeah, but…” Gil sat down on a crate near Zeetha. “Watching you, it kind of feels like overkill. I mean, she’d just stayed up all night working, and-”

Zeetha cut him off. “So did you, but you seem to be alright.”

“Oh. My father taught me some mental exercises; I’ll be good for a few days.” Gil shrugged it off.

“Same here. An ancient Skifandrian warrior discipline, hardly ever taught to outsiders.” Zeetha gave him a strange smile. “And yes, Agatha will learn those exercises as well. Eventually.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Gil was getting frustrated with the conversation. “Why are you so hard on her?”

“Why do you care?”

Gil practically exploded. “Because I hate seeing her suffer! Even when I know it’s a good thing! I know that all this training is supposed to make her better so she can protect herself, but I also can’t stand to watch her go through it because I love her and I don’t want to see her hurt!”

Zeetha was silent for a moment. “Wow. I guess you are good for her.”

“Was there ever a doubt?”

Zeetha gave him a look. “I’m basically Agatha’s only family at this point; it’s my job to protect her.”

Gil began to calm down. “Someone once told me that family isn’t always pure tradition or blood ties; it can be chosen as well.” He placed his hand on Zeetha’s shoulder. “You, me, Agatha, Bang, everyone in this show, we’re all family of sorts.”

A knowing smile spread across Zeetha’s face. “Was this someone Balthazar?”

Gil grinned. “Does he say this to everyone?”

“Pretty much. But he is right. There’s a term from back home,  _ Sumacan-Chag.  _ It’s kind of hard to translate; it literally means  _ battle-family,  _ but the actual meaning is deeper.” She placed her hand on his shoulder, and they mirrored each other. “It means the people who you fight with until the end days, your oldest friends, the people who’ve seen you through your worst times, who were always there and will be until you die.”

She stood up. “This circus is a  _ Sumacan-Chag  _ in a way. Unbreakable bonds that you can’t explain, but are there nonetheless. A family, without blood ties or legal binds.”

They stayed there in silence for a moment, until Zeetha began to leave, but turned to Gil first. “Why I’m so hard on Agatha? It’s because she’s a lot weaker than Skifandrian cadets when we start out, and older too. And she is going to lead a much more dangerous life than anyone else.”

She gave Gil a piercing look. “That’s why I’m hard on her. So she’ll be ready when the time comes.”

“Alright, I understand, but…” Gil stood up. “I still want to review your techniques. Up for a spar?”

Zeetha smiled. “Anything goes?”

Gil returned the grin. “Anything goes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all, folks! I have a headcannon that there is some kind of Skifandrian term for chosen family, so I figured, why not this? (i may have just made up some random sounds, given them a basic meaning and thrown them together)
> 
> please leave feedback/advice
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	7. They're all Sparks?!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A clank attacks the circus, and Gil learns a bit more about his fellow show people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm too tired for notes right now, on with the story!

When Gil woke up, he was lying on the wall of his cart, Dupree on top of him. This wouldn’t have been terrible if not for the fact that he was only in this position because something had just knocked the wagon over.

“What the hell is going on?” Bang bolted up, yet somehow was still standing on Gil.

“I don’t know, but based on the screams outside, something is attacking us. Now will you get off me so we can go fight?”

Bang did get off him, but not before making the extra effort to stand on his face. GIl sighed and got up, and began searching for something to use as a weapon.

He came up with a crowbar; he wasn’t about to use his lightning stick without testing it, and besides, Agatha had the prototype, and her cart was on the other side of camp.

Bolting outside, Gil saw some kind of clank, with six legs, a large body, two mounted guns that seemed to be shooting at whatever moved, and a large claw. It was clunky, with an outer shell of scrap metal, and loosely bolted on legs.

Of course, it was tearing apart anything that moved within a thirty foot radius of it, so it was quite dangerous, even if it wasn’t held together well.

“Bang! Find Zeetha. The two of you are fast enough that you could distract it enough for someone else to attack it and try to take it out.” Gil needed to come up with a plan fast, or this thing would tear everyone apart.

“He’s right.” Zeetha came up to them. “We’re the only two here who have a decent chance of dodging it’s attacks, save for maybe Gil. Anyone else would be torn apart. We have to do this.”

Bang seemed to consider this for a moment, before looking up and sayin, “alright. I’ll go from this angle, you sweep around to the other side. That could distract the guns-”

“For a moment.” Zeetha realized. “If there are two guns, it can shoot both of us at once. It would be best if three people distracted it.”

“I’ll do it.” Gil stepped forward. “I’m the only one who can hold my own against either of you in a sparring match, I’m our best shot at being the third distraction. Bang, Zeetha, attack where you were going to, I’ll go to the front. And hope that someone else has something to shoot this thing with.”

The three of them nodded and split up. Zeetha and Gil both stayed low and snuck to their positions, while Bang threw a rock at the thing and jumped up, running towards it screaming.

Well, a distraction is a distraction, Gil guessed.

As the left gun turned to focus on Bang and began to whir, Gil looked at Zeetha from across the campground, saw her nod, and jumped up in synchronization with her. 

“Over here, you useless lump of metal! Come and get me!” He ran up to it, weilding a crowbar, and the right gun turned to focus on him.

“No, over here, clank!” Zeetha had managed to get close enough to attack the legs, and the right gun turned to focus on her. 

The left gun, which had whirred for about ten seconds before beginning to glow, shot at Bang, who ducked behind a few rocks. Gil began to jump up onto a leg, and the gun focused on him. 

He waited for around ten seconds, and as soon as the gun started to glow, he jumped back and let the clank shoot itself, taking out one of the six legs. As he picked himself up, he noticed that the right gun was now focusing on Dupree rather than Zeetha, and the left gun was still on him.

“SEV! DESTROY!” Gil heard a yell from across the clearing, and saw Sev, the clank that belonged to Balthazar’s father, gear up, turning into a battle clank with several saws that began making its way to the attacking clank.

Sev, however, was too slow, and was blasted by the left gun, giving Gil a chance to get out of the way and to cover. What he saw next was incredible.

Dame Aedith pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a death ray, and aimed it at one of the legs. The blast managed to take two of the legs out, leaving the clank balancing precariously on three.

Yeti took this opportunity to grab Zeetha and throw her at the right gun, which Zeetha attempted to hack at, rather unsuccessfully. As she tried to, however, the left gun began to power up.

“Zeetha, get off!” Without thinking, Gil scrambled up a tipped over cart and jumped at Zeetha, knocking her off the clank. The left gun fired, taking out the right gun.

The clank was sizzling now; GIl guessed that it probably didn’t have much power left in it, but whatever power it did have, it was enough to grab Gil and pick him up with the claw.

Gil tried to use his crowbar to hit the claw, but it was useless. The left gun turned to aim at him, as he desperately tried to free himself.

He didn’t have to, however. From behind him, he heard Agatha yell “Gil, duck!” Gil did as she commanded, and a bolt of lightning shot out from the staff that they had been working on the last night, taking out the remaining gun and singing a decent amount of Gil’s hair.

As the clank began to hiss, it lost its grip on him. As soon as Gil hit the ground, Zeetha and Bang grabbed him and pulled him behind a cart for cover. Gil vaguely heard Master Payne shout “EVERYONE GET DOWN!” but it was drowned out by the explosion.

Gil’s ears rang for a minute, but he could see Agatha running towards him, helping him up. He could see Bang helping Zeetha up, and the rest of the circus members picking themselves up, grabbing their death rays and tools to patch up Sev, and…

Wait a minute…

“YOU’RE ALL SPARKS?!!’

* * *

“So, about half of you are Sparks, Blathazar might be because his father is one, but you don’t know yet, and you use this show to hide in plain sight from the Baron?”

“Yes. It’s not something we like to flaunt, though. It’s why we don’t tell anyone unless we have to.” Master Payne looked somewhat concerned. “Many powerful people have...uses for minor Sparks, and it’s safer to stay here, hiding in plain sight, where people expect such oddities. I assume that you, being a Spark yourself, would understand this.”

“Yeah, I...I understand.” Gil thought about it; of course they would hide. People burn Sparks as witches, drive them from their homes. Sparks are in immense danger if they can’t defend themselves. His own father experimented on them; it was safer to stay hidden, he realized.

“Good. Now get some rest, we’ll put the rest of camp back together in the morning.” And with that, Master Payne left.

Gil laid down on his makeshift bunk, Bang across from him. She was already asleep, but Gil couldn’t. He was too busy thinking.

Schools around the Empire, especially in the country, weren’t well designed for a rural Spark. They wouldn’t have enough money for a good education, and no help when they break through. 

Gil wondered what he would think of his father if he was one of those less lucky Sparks, about how much danger he would be in. And Gil silently swore to himself that, once this was over, he would work as hard as he possibly could to make sure that all young Sparks can have a decent education, and a place to break through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is. This one is a little shorter, but I felt that that was the best place to stop it at.
> 
> Gil knows they're all Sparks now! This is going to change a lot of things about how he acts now. And he is very much regretting what he said about them needing mechanics...
> 
> please leave feedback and advice
> 
> thank you, imma go sleep now


	8. Concussions and Van Rijns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil gets knocked out, and misses a lot of fun stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a little longer than I expected, because I was trying to cram a lot into it. I hope it's alright.

“Hey, everyone, Agatha and Zeetha are back!”

Gil perked up when he heard Pix’s yell. Zeetha had told him earlier that she was going to make sure Agatha wasn’t around when the circus left, so she’d have to run to catch up. It had taken most of the day, but it looked like she was finally there.

“YOU LEFT WITHOUT US!!” Agatha had collapsed on the ground, drenched in sweat and exhausted. Zeetha was helping her up, laughing hysterically.

“Hey, we had full confidence in you catching up!” Bang ran over to high five Zeetha. “Took longer than expected, though.”

“True.” Zeetha scratched her chin. “Remind me to be more creative next time. Maybe you or Bill can help!”

“Working! Already scared!”

“You’re enjoying this way too much, Zee.” Gil ran over to where Agatha was and gave her some water, which she snatched out of his hands.

“And what are you going to do about it, Lover Boy?” Zeetha had a huge smirk on her face.

“Make sure you don’t get all the fun.” And with that, Gil stole the water from Agatha.

“Jerk!” She tried to grab the water from him, but couldn’t reach, and gave up after a few seconds. She sighed. “I’m going to go get some food.”

Gil lowered his arm laughing, and Agatha looked over her shoulder. “And Gil, maybe be a little more alert in the Wastelands.” She threw something at him, which he caught and looked at, only to see his watch.

He looked at his arm, back at the watch, and back at Agatha. “Wow.”

“Going all soft on us, Lover Boy?” Bang wrapped her arm around him, with a cocky smile on her face. “You gonna get off at Mechanicsburg too?”

“But of course!” Gil wriggled his way out of Bang’s grasp.

“Aww, my little pal is all grown up!”

“Shut up and go see if you can see Auggie and Lars.” Gil was smiling as he said this. He would have headed to Agatha’s cart if he didn’t hear the call “TO ARMS, TO ARMS!!”

* * *

Agatha ran out with her death ray, and gave Gil his lightning rod. “What is it? I don’t see anything!”

“Don’t say that like it’s a good thing!” Zeetha had both swords out, standing almost back to back with Bang.

“Zeetha’s right; if you can’t see something, that means there’s even more danger.” Gil started up the ionizer. “We’re in a lot of danger, I can feel it.”

“They’ve got their weapons out, but no pursuit.”

“What the hell is it?”

“What’s going on?”

“What are we looking for, Krosp?”

“I’m not sure.” Everyone shut up pretty quickly to listen to Krosp. “Something we don’t expect.”

“Whoa! They’ve got their weapons out.” Abner put down the telescope.

“What do they see that we don’t?”

“Agatha! Come on!” Krosp grabbed Agatha and pulled her under the bridge. He said something else to her that Gil couldn’t quite hear, but he saw Agatha shoot under the bridge.

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!” A bunch of white, sickley, pale humanoid figures were crawling on the underside of the bridge. Once they were shot at, they began climbing up the bridge toward them, cutting off Lars and Auggie.

“There’s too many of them. We’re dead.”

“Yes.” Zeetha readied her swords, and took a deep breath, as if accepting her fate, “but we fight to give the wagons time to escape.

“Ho! Now vat’s de fun of dot?” Gil turned his head, and saw three jagers jumping out from the shadows.

“Ve fights to keel!” And with that, the jagers-the ones from Zumzum, Gil realized-launched themselves into the fight.

Gil charged up his lightning stick, which he had upgraded the previous night. He aimed it at the monsters in the back, and fired.

* * *

The next thing he knew, Zeetha was pouring water on his head as he found himself lying in an indent in the ground.

“What happened?” He pulled himself up, and almost collapsed again, but Zeetha caught him.

“You were shoved backwards after you shot the lightning staff. We managed to blow the bridge, and take out the monsters with the help of the jagers.” Gil tried to stand up, but Zeetha stopped him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You have a pretty decent bump on your head.”

“‘M fine. Help me up.” Zeetha rolled her eyes and helped support him. A few feet away, Gil could see Agatha arguing about...going back and saving Passholdt?

“Agatha,” Gil walked up to her, “I know your heart is in the right place, but we can’t risk it. Passholdt is gone, it’s people are gone, for all we know those were the people, and the only thing to do is kill them.”

“But, if we tried hard enough-”

“What if it’s Revenants, Agatha? And all we can do is kill them? That may be the only option here. I know you want to be the hero and go help and fight but...you can’t save everyone. No matter how much you want to. No matter how much you try.

“At the end of the day, all we can do is help who we can and live our lives. Accept the limits and move on. Even if it’s awful, we give up or get up, and help everyone and…...annnhhhhuuuhh...”

Gil was dimly aware of Agatha running towards him as he passed out.

* * *

Gil woke up to see a jager standing over his head. “Go away, Gorb, tell my father I’m asleep…”

“Vell, Hy dunno who hyu es talking to, kid. Name’s Maxim. Pleased to meet hyu.”

Gil bolted up, suddenly remembering where he was. He regretted this instantly, as his concussion headache then hit him like a train.

“Woah, dere, eazy, kid. Hyu has quite de hit on hyur head. De Lady said dot hyu should rest.”

“The Lady. Agatha. Right.” Gil sat back down. “Why are you here?”

“Ho, dots easy.” Maxim grinned. “Ve joined de circus!”

Okay. This was Gil’s life now, he was just going to roll with it because at this point asking questions is useless and takes too much time.

“Of course you did…” He began to lie down, but Maxim stopped him.

“Hold on dere, kiddo. Hy heard dot hyu and de Lady are...very close, yas?”

“What, Agatha? Yeah, we are...we really are…” Gil couldn’t tell if that was the concussion talking or not, but he was too tired to care.

“And hyu iz beink good to her? Treating her vith respect und all dot?”

“Yes….”

“Alright den, goot! Just be goot to de Lady, und we es all happy!” Maxim got up. “Hyu stay dere, kid, Hy vill get hyu some food und water.”

Gil fell back into bed and was asleep before Maxim had even closed the cart door.

* * *

Gil awoke much later to the sound of music. Really, really beautiful music. Mustering up what little strength he had, he pulled himself out of bed and went outside, walking towards its source.

He soon saw the Silverodeon, which he had heard was completely unrepairable (of course, Agatha had still insisted on working on it constantly. Yet it was working, with Agatha playing one of the songs he had always heard when she was working.

As Agatha finished her piece, everyone erupted in applause and yells of “bravo!”, “wonderful!”, and “encore”!

“That, Miss Clay,” Gil said, walking up to her, “was a piece of music almost as beautiful as you.”

Agatha looked at him, then back at the Countess. “I thought you said there was no permanent brain damage.”

“Hey!”

“I mean, that’s the only explanation for him suddenly being able to flirt and be smooth…”

“HEY!!” Gil could feel his face turning bright red.

“She’s got you there, kiddo.” Zeetha flicked his ear with a grin on her face.

“Miss Clay, I’m…” Master Payne looked completely shocked. “I’m speechless.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s practically unheard of.” The Countess had a smirk on her face, which was met with a glare from Master Payne.

“Now, this is just a base refurbish.” Agatha turned back to the Silverodeon. “With more clockwork I can add more instruments, maybe even some little singing automata, like the ones Gil had…” She noticed the look of _don’t-blow-our-cover_ that Gil shot her. “...that Gil has designs for.”

“And I was thinking maybe kind of...a kind of ball covered in little mirrors, and-” She was cut off by a ringing noise from the props wagon.

“That’s coming from Moxana’s wagon.” Gil had no idea who Moxana was, which confused him. Hadn’t he already met everyone?

“Yes. We should go and see what she wants.” Abner had a very wary look on his face. “Miss Clay, I think that you’d better come along.”

Gil started to follow her, but Zeetha stopped him. “No. If you go in there, you’ll start trying to build things, and you’re not building anything until you’ve eaten and drunk something. You’ve been asleep for almost a full day.”

Agatha smiled at him. “I won’t do anything completely monumental until you show up.”

Gil sighed and walked over to the fire, where Trish was trying to get Balthazar to finish his food.

* * *

“Gil! Gil, get over here, now!”

Gil ran over to where Agatha was calling him from the props wagon. “Look at this clank! This is Moxana, okay?”

Gil was a little nervous by her excitement, but went along with it anyway. “Okay…?”

“Anyway, she wanted me to repair her. So I looked, but I couldn’t find anything wrong with her, but what I did find was this.” She grabbed Gil and pulled him into Moxana’s inner workings, and pointed to a small mark, which…

_“No way.”_ Gil whispered in utter disbelief. “This is a _Van Rijn.”_

“Not just any Van Rijn.” Agatha pulled him back up. “Master Payne tells me that she once had a sister; a dancer, Tinka, and they were part of a set of nine…”

“The _Nine Muses?”_ The situation got more incredible and unbelievable by the minute. “But...they were lost.”

“According to Master Payne, they got themselves lost to avoid getting torn apart, hiding in plain sight with the rest of the circus. But a while ago, they were going through Balan’s Gap-Sturmhalten-and Tinka was taken by the prince. They don’t know why, but-”

“Sturmvoraus.” Gil went from excitement to anger in a split second.

“Ah, you...know him?” Agatha stopped in her tracks.

“Tarvek Sturmvoraus was a fellow student with me on Castle Wulfenbach, and at one time, my only friend.” Gil sat down. “This was before I knew who my father was; I was around eight at the time, Tarvek was nine. We came up with the idea to sneak into the Baron’s vault to see my family records.

“What we found was that my family had all died to a meat grinder clank. I ran away, and ran into the Baron, who then told me that was a plant, and that he is my father.

“Tarvek, on the other hand, got caught in the vault and sent home. I saw him again in Paris, and he hated me. And now he’s here, messing with the circus?” He sighed. “I just can’t get that snake out of my life.”

“Not only that,” Agatha added, “but the removal of Tinka broke Moxana. She want’s a new sister.”

“But...that’s impossible. No one has been able to replicate Van Rijn’s technology-”

“No one else had these.” Agatha held up a book in front of Gil.

“And those are…?”

“Van Rijn’s notes.”

Gil proceeded to fall unconscious for the fourth time in 26 hours.

* * *

When Gil came to, Bang was lying beside him. He was back in his cart, and it looked to be night based on the lack of light and Bang’s loud snoring.

He sighed. Of course his stupid, beat up brain decided to give out just as things were getting interesting. He checked his watch, and was grateful for small blessings; it had been a little less than an hour.

Getting up and leaving the wagon, he noticed that the light in Agatha’s wagon was still on, and the three jagers were walking out, looking rather happy.

Gil walked up to the door, and saw Agatha looking out of it. “So, what was that about?”

“The jagers are quite happy that they’re going to get their Heterodyne back.” Agatha had a smile on her face. “And they’re rather excited for a Heterodyne-Wulfenbach alliance.”

“Sounds like them.” Gil leaned against the wagon, then finished processing what Agatha had said. “Wait, what?”

“Goodnight, Gil.” Agatha walked back into her wagon, closing the door and smiling.

Gil watched as Agatha went back inside, then went back to his wagon. He went to lie down in his bed, but the smile on his face was so wide that he couldn’t sleep. Things were finally looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's all. I know there was some stuff that was glossed over in this chapter, but those were parts that I felt were better without Gil there. 
> 
> And yes, it's not a very Gil thing to stay unconscious so much, but Gil has a lot of people yelling at him to take care of himself now. And concussions will make you very tired and throw your sleep schedule out the window and flip it off as it falls.
> 
> please leave feedback/advice etc
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	9. Holzfӓller, you wretched cur!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to Sturmhalten. They put on a play. Tarvek recognizes people, and things escalate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has major plot points taken from the Discord team, so thank you Discord. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

“So, what’s the plan here?”

Gil sighed. “Dupree, you would know the plan if you had been paying attention when Master Payne and Abner ran over it. And when I explained it to you thirty minutes ago when you lost focus. And an hour ago when-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I can’t focus, but that’s not my fault. I never listen.” Bang got up and sat next to Gil, who was driving the cart. “So, are you going to explain it to me or not?”

“The jagers are in Wulfenbach uniforms, and they’re going to say they’re with us so we can get through town nice and quick, since Sturmhalten will want to put us in the official lanes with the jagers on her. Got that?” Gil looked over at Bang, who was playing with a knife. “DUPREE!”

“What?” Dupree looked back up at him. “Sorry, not paying attention. Explain again?”

Gil gritted his teeth. “Jagers pretend to be Wulfenbach. Town wants Wulfenbach and us gone soon. We go through town quick. Got it?”

“I think so. The jagers are our ticket through here fast?”

“Yes, Dupree, that’s exactly it.” Gil stopped the cart, as they arrived at the gate. He took a deep breath. “Let’s hope this works.”

* * *

It did work.

Keyword,  _ did.  _

Within an hour of traveling through Sturmhalten, they had been stopped. The Prince Aaronev had requested a command performance, and then sent the jagers on ahead, just like they asked.

Because nothing ever went well in Gil’s life.

“Bill!” Gil looked up to see Abner calling him. “Come on, we’re assigning parts for the play!”

Gil was confused. “But...I don’t act, I help do effects…”

“Usually, yes.” Abner grabbed Gil and pushed him toward the gathering of actors. “But Andre was hurt in the fight at Passholdt, and his nose is still broken. So,” Abner pulled out a script and shoved it at Gil. “You’re playing Barry.”

“But the sword act with Zeetha-”

“Dupree is taking your place.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Abner began to walk away. “Rehearse your lines, we don’t want to end up losing someone else.”

Gil sighed. No point in fighting this. “...yes, Abner.” He began reading the script.

* * *

“Alright, alright, there’s the last warm-up act. Good job, Embi.”

“Praise me all you like, I’m never doing a show here again! That maniac shot at me!” Embi’s costume was still smoking.

“Bill, get ready.” Trish walked over to check his costume one last time. “You’re going to be the brave and daring, loyal, kind and courageous Barry Heterodyne, the Spark who throws himself into danger with no thought for his own safety.”

“In other words, you won’t have to do any other acting than pretending to not be a total idiot.”

Well, that killed Gil's confidence. “Shut up, Zeetha.”

Zeetha responded by sticking her tongue out at him. “Nyaa!”

“Oh, very mature."

“Bill, you’re on!”

“Break a leg, kiddo!” And with that, Zeetha shoved him onstage.

* * *

Gil’s first scene went by without a hitch, apart from when the squirrel almost got loose, but according to Master Payne, it just made the scene even better.

“How is it that you have never acted before?” Pix congratulated him as he got off. “That was incredible!”

“Well, I’ve had to do some acting. Sort of. Not in theater, but,” Gil made a vague gesture with his hand. “Around, pretending to be someone I’m not, that sort of-”

“KNEEL, YOU MISERABLE MINION!!”

Gil looked out as much as he could at Agatha, who was commanding the stage...and the audience. All of them were on their knees, transfixed as they watched Agatha, as if she were a goddess.

“What is going on?” He turned to Pix, fear in his voice.

“I don’t know. I’ve seen audience participation, but this...this is something much different.” Pix thought for a second. “It’s almost worrying. I’ll go tell Abner.”

“What happened?” Zeetha and Bang came up to him, looking somewhat worried.

“Agatha was out there, and she told Auggie to kneel, and somehow the rest of the audience did too! They do whatever she says. It’s like she’s their master!” Gil looked at them. “This could be very bad; the last thing that I ever saw obey Agatha like this was a slaver warrior. And before that...”

“Who else?” Zeetha’s voice had a very nervous edge.

“Someone who worked on the Castle. The one who my father thinks...activated the Hive Engine.” Gil’s mind started to desperately work, trying to figure out what was going on, but he didn’t have the time.

“Bill. Let’s go, we’re on!” Lars walked out on stage.

“Well, what do you say, Barry, is this where the Lady Lucrezia’s trail leads?”

Gil walked on stage, but he couldn’t even get two words out before he heard a commotion from the royal box.

“Gilgamesh Holzfӓller, you wretched cur!” And with that, Tarvek Sturmvoraus jumped through the window to the royal box he had just broken and ran over towards the stage. “How dare you?”

Of course.

“You dare stoop so low as to be here, with this pack of carnies, ruining this great show? Why, I shall not stand for that! In the name of the honor of the story, I challenge you to a duel!” And with that, Tarvek whipped a knife out and jumped on stage.

The situation was really reaching it’s possible worst.

“Wait, is that…” Bang ran out onstage. “It is! It’s Prince “How-Dare-You”!”

And there was its worst.

“And the Bangladesh DuPree, the Exiled Pirate Queen! Is Zola here? What of your manservant? Where are the rest of your squad of low-life scum?”

Gil looked around. Lars was looking over Tarvek’s shoulder, somewhere between panic attack and anger. Zeetha and Agatha were right behind him, weapons drawn. The rest of the circus was giving him looks that ranged from complete bewilderment to death glares. Aaronev was holding his head in his hands, and looked completely done with life. The audience looked scared, and angry, and was  _ still staring at Agatha for some reason. _

“Sturmvoraus,” Gil said very slowly, “I do not wish for this quarrel between us to carry on, but-”

“Why are you talking like we’re in a Heterodyne show? Let’s fight this moron!” And with that Bang pulled out a knife and attacked Tarvek.

“DUPREE!!” The yell came from at least half the circus, but Bang didn’t care. Moments later, Bang and Tarvek were in a duel, which Dupree was pretty close to winning.

“Dupree! Stand down!” Gil knew it was hopeless, but he might as well give it a shot.

“Why would I? This is fun!”

“Fun! Of course that’s what you low scum would think attacking someone is!” Tarvek was very angry, and very much did not want to fight Dupree; only Gil.

“Uh...you challenged me to a duel.”

“But of course! I fight because I must, and after what you did to me, getting kicked off the Castle, and Paris, I have the right to fight you, Holzfӓller!”

“Bill.” Gil turned to see Master Payne right behind him. “What. Is. Going. On?”

“Long story, will tell you later. I’ve got to pry these two idiots apart first.” And with that, Gil jumped into the middle of the fight, putting himself between Bang and Tarvek.

“Gil what are you-never mind, I’m coming!” Zeetha followed him into the fight, attempting to restrain Bang, who didn’t try to fight her, but gave her a very sad look.

“Hey! Get off of our heir!” Gil turned to see the audience, along with the ushers and several people who looked like they’d come in from outside climbing onto the stage, reaching to attack them.

He was pushed to the floor instantly, crushed under a dozen people. But before he could try and fight, he heard a commanding yell echo through the theater.

“No!” It was Agatha. “Get off of him! Get away from him!” The people holding down Gil obeyed, and got back, nearing the edge of the stage.

He pulled himself up, and grabbed Tarvek from behind.

“Holzfӓller, what are you playing at?” Tarvek stabbed at Gil’s hands, trying to free him from his grip.

“Nothing! But what I want to know is why your people are acting so weird whenever Agatha orders them to do something-WOAH!” Gil was slammed against the ground, and Tarvek jumped on top of him, and put his head close to Gil’s ear.

“Gil, that girl-Agatha?-she’s in a lot of danger here, understand? My father-look, I hate you, but I hate my family and what my father is doing even more. Within minutes you’re all going to be run out of town. Head the direction you were going in, I’ll meet you five miles away from the town and explain everything. But you need to get that girl out of here.”

“Why should I trust you? After everything my father has said about your family-”

“You shouldn’t. But please, just listen, for once. You wanted to get out of here anyway, right?”

Gil nodded.

“Alright,” Tarvek smiled, “now make this look good.”

Gil kicked Tarvek off of him again, and Tarvek stumbled back, and turned to the townspeople. “You see these carnies? They would attack your own prince, ruin the show! Drive them out of here for mocking Sturmhalten so!”

Agatha started to stop him, but Gil grabbed her. “No. We need to get out of here, and being run out of town should do the trick.” She nodded, and ran backstage.

“Everyone, let’s go! Now!” Master Payne’s yell was enough to shake Dupree from her fight with Zeetha, and get them all running out of there.

As Gil left, he looked back. Tarvek looked at him, and gave a small nod. Gil nodded back.

And that was how Gil ended up getting run out of a town, chased by a pack of people with weapons that ranged from pitchforks to shortswords.

* * *

On Castle Wulfenbach, a strange report came in from Sturmhalten, about the prince’s son, a circus, and a fight which led to a theater burning down.

A very enraged Klaus Wulfenbach grabbed Ardsley Wooster, left several of his best Sparks in charge of Punch and Judy’s revivification, and left with several dozen jagers to find his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, the climax has begun, and Klaus is showing up at the most inconvenient time.
> 
> Some of this may seem a bit...just not as good (I wasn't super happy with the way I ended the duel challenge, but I needed to get them out of town). I figured that Tarvek is willing to do anything to stop his father, and the "Holzfӓller, you wretched cur!" is the impulse talking. Tarvek regrets what he did from the moment he dropped down, and then just tried to make the most of the situation.
> 
> please leave feedback/advice
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	10. All the explosive family secrets! And by that I mean all of them!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've escaped Sturmhalten, and Gil has some explaining to do.
> 
> But so do Agatha and Tarvek, so at least he's not alone.
> 
> Good thing the Countess has plenty of truth serum.
> 
> THIS HAS BEEN REWRITTEN!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REWROTE THE CHAPTER, SO PLEASE REREAD IT BEFORE GOING TO THE SEQUEL THAT I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED!
> 
> This is the last chapter, and it's really long, but I felt like it was best to put all this into one chapter. I will be writing a sequel in which they do things like establish a Heterodyne, fight the Other, and awkwardly fall in love, so be sure to watch for that!
> 
> With that being said, enjoy!

Gil looked up at the stars from his wagon, desperately trying to come up with a plan. Stupid Tarvek for jumping down and messing it all up again. Stupid monsters in Passholdt for injuring Andre so Gil had to play Barry. Stupid Dupree for jumping into the fight with Tarvek. Stupid Sturmhalten for doing weird stuff whenever Agatha spoke.

_ Stupid Gilgamesh for thinking you could pull this off _ . Out of everyone who had annoyed him today, no one had angered Gil more than himself and his own dumb desicions for getting him into this mess.

“Alright, I think we’re far enough away. We should be safe here.” The Countess looked back, and her wagon came to a halt, followed by the others. “Let’s make camp.”

Gil climbed off his wagon, and locked down the wheels. He was about to go inside when the Countess grabbed his shoulder. “Not you. You and Bang have some explaining to do,  _ Bill. _ ”

Gil nodded. He was somewhat aware of Bang jumping out of the cart behind him, and they followed the Countess to where Lars and Abner were starting a fire. As he sat down, the rest of the Circus began to gather around the fire, and Yeti placed a soup cauldron on the flame.

Gil sighed, and sat down on a log next to Bang. The group looked at them with suspicious, angry eyes, and Gil began to squirm in his seat.

“So...what happened in Sturmhalten...I believe you owe us an explanation,  _ Bill Holzfӓller.” _ Abner said the last two words as if they were poison.

“We’ll explain when Agatha gets here.” Gil began. “She has a part in this too.”

And even more suspicious looks. Great.

They sat there for a few more minutes before Agatha walked up to the fire, Zeetha closely following her. Agatha sat down next to Gil, and the two of them shared a look, a look that said  _ it’s time,  _ and nodded.

Master Payne looked between the two. “Alright. Explanation now, please.”

Agatha placed her hand on Gil’s and gave it a small squeeze. “Do you want to start?”

“I think...yes, I’ll start.” Gil took a deep breath, and turned to the rest of the circus.

“My name isn’t Bill Holzfӓller. That’s a pseudonym I took so I could travel with you, after I ran away from home when my...lover died. Or was presumed dead, I guess.”

He took a deep breath. “My real name is Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. I knew Agatha on Castle Wulfenbach, and we grew very close when I knew her, until she ran away and met you all, and well...I think you know the story from there.”

“We do, yes.” Master Payne sighed. “And if you’re Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, then I assume that you’re the pirate girl who harassed Abner that night?” He pointed to Dupree.

“Hey, I was just doing my job.” Bang stood up from the log she was leaning on and stuck out her hand. “Bangladesh Dupree, exiled pirate queen. Before Gil dragged me off on this hair-brained plan, I worked for the Baron for about three years or so, after I discovered my fleet and fortress destroyed under mysterious circumstances.”

The circus began to exchange not-very-subtle at all glances, as they looked from Dupree to Zeetha and back, looking very worried.

Bang laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about that. We sorted out that little argument less than two weeks after we joined up, so we’re not going to kill each other.”

This didn’t seem to ease the circus at all.

Gil turned to Agatha. “Anyway, those are our stories. Agatha, do you want-”

“Sure.” Agatha sat up and took a deep breath. “Might as well get this over with.”

“So...I also used a fake name.” She started. “See, the thing about my family, and the story that I told you, it’s true. I was on Castle Wulfenbach, and my parents did come to get me, they were both killed in the confusion, and I do have something waiting for me in Mechanicsburg. But that’s not the whole story.”

Agatha paused for a moment, and Gil reached over to squeeze her hand, hoping to offer some bit of comfort.

“My real name is Agatha Heterodyne. Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish were my parents, and I was raised under the name Agatha Clay by the constructs Punch and Judy. I didn’t know any of this, however, until about two months ago.

“I was taken to Castle Wulfenbach after building a clank in Beetleburg, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I broke through on the Castle, because a locket that my Uncle Barry-Barry Heterodyne, I guess-gave to me, had been stolen, and it had been keeping my spark in check until then.

“Then a hive engine was activated, and my parents-Punch and Judy-came to save me, and then this construct, Von Pinn, tore them apart. I escaped with Krosp, and then I ran into you all.” Agatha stopped. “That’s it.”

“So you are Lucrezia Mongfish’s daughter.”

Gil turned to the direction of the mysterious voice to see…

_ Oh come on _ .

It was Tarvek Sturmvoraus.

“What are you doing here, Sturmvoraus?” Gil stood up, placing himself between Agatha and Sturmvoraus.

“I wanted to make sure you got out of Sturmhalten. And I really think I should explain what happened back there.” Sturmvoraus began to approach, only to be met with several swords and death rays pointed at him, ready to strike.

“Wait.” Agatha stood up, and moved to stand behind Gil. “What happened back there...I need an explanation, and if you have it, then I want to hear it.”

“If possible, could I tell it without all the weapons pointed in my face?” Sturmvoraus was trying to put on a smile, but it was not working very well.

“Alright, fine. But we’re not going to put them away completely.” Master Payne gestured for everyone to lower their weapons, and they complied.

“But don’t think that this means we’ll play nice if you mess up, Prince How-Dare-You!”

Upon hearing Dupree’s voice, Tarvek scurried over to Gil and climbed on top of him, perching on his shoulder like a parrot in a bad pirate drama.

“Gil...why is she with you?  _ Why is she here?” _ Tarvek was shaking, and Gil let out a long, drawn out sigh.

“She’s traveling with me because she wanted to run away to the circus with me. Now will you please get off of me and tell whatever story you have to us?”

Tarvek tentatively climbed down from Gil’s shoulder and sat down on the log, being very careful to make sure Gil was between him and Bang.

“You look tired, young man.” The Countess poured Tarvek a glass of what Gil assumed was wine. “Care for a drink?”

He took it and swallowed the entire thing in ten seconds.

“So...the explanation?” Gil wasn’t sure who said this, but it seemed to get Tarvek talking.

“Right, right.” Sturmvoraus took a deep breath, and looked at Agatha. “Look, Miss, er, Lady Heterodyne...there’s a lot here, and very few people know it, and it might be a lot to take in. It will sound crazy, and none of it’s really good…”

“Don’t beat around the bush.” Agatha had possibly the most serious expression that Gil had ever seen on her. “If you sugarcoating things is going to take this long, don’t bother with tact.  _ And tell me everything.” _

“Alright, fine.” Sturmvoraus looked her dead in the eyes. “Lucrezia Mongfish, your mother, is the Other. My father, Aaronev Sturmvoraus, is part of the Order of the Knights of Jove, a group of people mostly consisting of the House of Valois, descendents of the Storm King, and highly trained assassins called Smoke Knights.

“The Order is a divided mess, pretty much between those loyal to Lucrezia and those not loyal to her. My father is part of the former group, and was using a beacon engine designed by Lucrezia to place a copy of Lucrezia’s mind into whoever the engine was used on.

“However, the version we have now is a prototype, and would only be able to work on her daughter-you. My father tried the engine on multiple other women with the spark, including my sister, but with no success.

“Most of them died, but a few, such as my sister, survived. She was badly injured, dying. Then I saw your show, and saw Tinka-a Van Rijn! A real one, so I took it, and reverse engineered the body in order to save my sister by giving her a clank body.

“But it was only temporary. Not long ago, my sister died, leaving only the clank, who still thinks she’s my sister.”

Sturmvoraus paused for a moment, and looked almost like he was going to cry, but soon regained his composure.

“There’s also a new type of revenant; normal people, not shamblers, with a wasp. They’re just living their lives, but at any moment they could be controlled by the Other. They make up almost the entire city of Sturmhalten, and with the geisterdamen that are also there, it would be almost impossible for us to get in there.

“They’ve also been developing a spark wasp, and the target is the Baron.”

Sturmvoraus paused for a moment. “That’s it.”

There were a few seconds of silence where everyone stood in shock.

Then the shouting started.

* * *

It was a good fifteen minutes before everyone calmed down.

Gil’s mind was still reeling, trying to grasp onto the situation. Lucrezia was the Other? There were spark wasps? The Order, the normal people revenants, everything was going crazy. This was a complete diplomatic disaster.

And out of everyone who knew this, Tarvek Sturmvoraus?

He was really beginning to regret running from Castle Wulfenbach.

“Alright, alright everyone.” Abner was looking very exhausted, and Gil couldn’t blame him; this was way more than he signed up for. “So, we all know the situation, right? We need to figure out what to do with this information.”

“We should go to Sturmhalten, and save the town!” Agatha jumped up, because of course she did. She really needed a few lessons in politics.

“Agatha, look, I love you, but we don’t have the firepower or enough people to be able to pull off that kind of an operation.” Gil put his hand on her shoulder. “We need to wait.”

“You’re the son of the Baron! Contact him, and-”

“You think he’ll believe any of this? He’ll lock up you and Sturmvoraus, along with the rest of the circus, probably, and we’d all be doomed. We need an actual plan.”

“I might have one.” Sturmvoraus. Of course he had a plan.

“Alright, Weasel Prince, let’s hear it.” Zeetha was looking very tired, and very stressed out, and very done with Tarvek.

“So the Order had this plan to take a false Heterodyne girl and put her in charge of Mechanicsburg. The details were...often debated on, but the end result was always the same; a Storm King heir, recognized by the Fifty Families, would marry the Heterodyne Girl, thus being able to slowly usurp the Baron from his place of power.”

“Woah, woah, woah, Weasel Prince, back up.” Zeetha held her hands up, trying to get him to slow down. “What do you mean ‘Storm King heir’?”

Sturmvoraus looked confused. “I thought I mentioned it? Me, and a bunch of...unpleasant cousins are all eligible Storm King heirs.”

Gil jumped up. “NO, YOU DID NOT MENTION THAT!!”

“Oh, I thought I did. Anyway-” Sturmvoraus just continued as if nothing had happened.

“You can’t drop a bombshell like that and just-”

Sturmvoraus cut Gil off. “Do you want to hear my plan, or not?”

Gil sighed and shut up.

“Anyway, we could use this plan. Put Agatha as the ruler of Mechanicsburg, and then I, who worked with her, would ‘kidnap’ her, taking her to Sturmhalten, followed by a team of whoever would be able to handle themselves. I have a cousin in Mechanicsburg, she’ll be up for it.

“I’ll contact my sis-ah, the Clank Anevka. She can and will kill our father if I tell her to-death runs in the family, you could say. Then I use the back door I built into her to make sure she’s no longer a threat.

“The infiltration team follows me and Agatha as we enter Sturmhalten, and we let the geisters put the Lucrezia implant in her head. With Anevka and my father out of the way, I can watch and learn from her, and maybe figure out how to reverse engineer and help the people she controls.

“Wulfenbach, during this you contact your father. He shows up to quarantine the town, and when he does, the infiltration team will help to get me and Agatha out. We fix Agatha, and we’ll be in a better position than ever in the fight against the Other.”

Tarvek stopped. “That’s it. That’s the plan.”

“That’s your plan?” To Gil’s surprise, it was Zeetha who jumped up. “You reckless idiot! You think we’re just going to put Agatha in danger like that? Ashtara above, if you think I would ever let you near my  _ zumil,  _ I’ll-”

She began to speak in what Gil assumed to be Skifandrian, and he couldn’t keep up with her. She was practically standing on Tarvek by the time Agatha reached over and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Zeetha...I think he’s right.”

Gil, along with the rest of the circus, did a double take. This insane plan from a completely untrustworthy person, and Agatha wanted to do it?

Of course she did.

“Agatha, no.” Zeetha turned to look at her, holding her hands. “I’m not letting you put yourself in danger like this.”

“You heard Tarvek, Zeetha. I’m the only one who can do this, I’m the only chance we have at being able to save those people. So please, just trust me.”

“Agatha, I won’t let you do this.” Gil stepped up, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “This is insane, and Sturmvoraus is completely untrustworthy-”

“He might be, but who else is going to help those people?” Agatha all but yelled at him. “No one else can do this. I have to. It’s the right thing to do, and you can’t stop me.”

She looked at him, angry and sad and almost crying. “You can’t control me or keep me safe, Gil. You can help me, or not help at all.”

“I-” Gil cut himself off, because she was right. The last time he’d tried to control her, she ran away. He wasn’t going to be able to stop her. “...fine. But I’m following you into the castle.”

“Fair.”

Another long, awkward silence overtook the group, until Master Payne spoke up. “So, Prince Sturmvoraus, you’re going to be traveling with us for a while?”

Sturmvoraus sighed. “It appears so.”

“In that case, a pseudonym will be in order. I suggest a similar first name to what you have; it makes it easier to remember. As for a last name…”

“Theo will work for a first name. And I guess Smith is as good a last name as any.”

“Alright then, Theo Smith, welcome to Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure! As for your wagon-”

“Oh, I can just sleep in the props wagon. I’m adaptable, so it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.”

Master Payne and Abner exchanged very worried glances, and Sturmvoraus picked up on it. “What’s in the props wagon?”

The question was not answered, because a ringing sound that Gil recognized as Moxana was then heard from the props wagon.

Sturmvoraus perked up immediately, like Krosp whenever he saw a mimmoth. He got up so fast that he tripped over his feet twice in running over to the props wagon.

Gil stood up and ran after him, Agatha, Zeetha and Bang all close behind. When they got to the props wagon, the scene that greeted them was a sight to behold.

Tarvek was on his knees in front of Moxana, in a state of complete shock and awe that Gil hadn’t seen on him since-well, since he and Tarvek snuck into the biggest lab on Castle Wulfenbach when they were little.

It was a few minutes before Master Payne, Abner, and a few of the other circus members showed up, and another few minutes before Sturmvoraus managed to pull himself together enough to speak.

“You...you have  _ another Muse here? _ You have  _ Moxana?”  _ He took another deep breath, then fell backwards, his hand on his forehead. “I thought you having Tinka was improbable, but  _ two Muses? _ This is incredible!”

“Prince Sturmvoraus, look here, if you even think about taking Moxana apart for your little projects-”

Lars cut Abner off. “Abner, even if we don’t like it, Tarvek can do that.” Gil looked over at him, flabbergasted. “I mean, if he is the heir to the Lightning Crown, then the symbols of the Storm King, including the Nine Muses, rightfully belong to him.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

Sturmvoraus had gained a decent amount of his composure by this time, and stood up to address Lars and Abner. “I would never think of hurting Moxana. I only even dared to work on Tinka to try and save my sister.”

“Besides, I don’t think you’ll have to take any Muses apart to figure out that they work, considering me and Gil are more than willing to let you use Van Rijn’s notes.”

Gil definitely did not make an indignant squeal and that comment, as only Sturmvoraus would do something like that. “Agatha, you can’t be serious!”

“You...you have Van Rijn’s notes?” And once again, Sturmvoraus had returned to being too shocked to speak.

“Of course not!” Gil desperately tried to grasp control of the situation. “And even if we did, we wouldn’t share them with an untrustworthy lout such as you, Sturmvoraus!”

“Gil.” Agatha was wearing her very serious ‘listen here, Wasp Kisser, or else’ look. “He has a right to those notes, and an actual claim. We should share them with him.”

“Oh come on! How do we even know he’s trustworthy, or that what he’s saying is true? I mean-”

“The truth serum that Countess Marie put a triple dose of into his drink?”

Gil and Tarvek were equally taken aback by this. “What?”

Agatha and Zeetha exchanged a look of total exasperation. “I thought you were oblivious, but seriously? Even Lars noticed-”

“You drugged me?” Sturmvoraus began to step towards the Countess, and Gil put himself between them.

“Don’t you dare, lout.”

Master Payne placed a hand on both Gil and Sturmvoraus’s shoulders. “Look, it’s been a long night. I’m sure we can discuss all this in the morning. I take it you’ll be sleeping in the props wagon, Prince?”

“Yes, I will. And if we’re going to travel together, I’m going to insist that you either call me by my pseudonym or ‘Tarvek’ No point in titles out here.”

“Very well, Mister Smith.” Master Payne turned to everyone. “Alright, I know we’ve had a tiring day, but who’s got the first watch tonight?”

“I can.” Gil and Zeetha both spoke at the same time.

“I really should,” Gil said, “my father taught me some mental exercises, I can go several days without sleep.”

“Same here. Ancient Skifandrian warrior discipline. And no, Agatha, I’m not going to teach you it until you learn a bit more about not sacrificing self care for science.” Agatha seemed very annoyed by this statement.

“Alright, you two take watch. Everyone else, get some rest.”

As they filed out of the cart, Gil felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Sturmvoraus.

Before GIl could say anything, Sturmvoraus Spoke up. “Look, if we’re going to work together, we should be at least civil with each other. There’s a lot of things to do, and we’ll need to at least stop fighting each other.”

“Alright, Sturmvoraus.” Gil rolled his eyes and stuck out his hand. “It’s a deal.”

“Good.” Sturmvoraus grabbed his hand and shook it. “Although, if we’re going to be stuck together for months, you can call me Tarvek.”

“Alright, on one condition.”

“What?”

“You call me Gil.”

Tarvek smiled. “That’s a deal, Gil.”

Gil smiled and walked out of the props wagon.

* * *

“So.”

Gil looked over at Zeetha. “So?”

“Are we just going to sit out here all night and not say anything?”

“I mean, we are on watch duty.”

“So?” Zeetha was lying down on a log, facing the sky. “That doesn’t mean we have to be dead silent as long as we’re still vigilant.” She rolled over onto her front and turned to Gil. “What’s on your mind?”

“What isn’t on my mind?” Gil sighed and leaned against a cart. “Today was the craziest day of my life.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Gil shot Zeetha an inquisitive look. “Why?”

“My  _ kolma  _ used to say that when you’re upset, or your life is going through changes, or there’s too much going on, you get distracted, and you become a sloppy warrior.” She pulled herself up and walked over to Gil. “Sometimes you have to talk about what’s going on out loud so your mind can sort through it.”

“That makes sense.” Gil paused for a second. “Wait, I thought a  _ kolee  _ was a teacher?”

“ _ Kolee  _ is teacher,  _ kolma  _ is mother. Same root word or something.” Zeetha leaned on the cart, facing towards Gil. “So, are you gonna sort this out?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Gil took a deep breath. “I mean, this whole thing, this plan is completely insane. I mean, I guess we can trust Sturmvoraus-Tarvek-because of the truth serum? But even then, I don’t know.”

Gil slumped and sat down on the ground, leaning against the cart. “Back when we were on Castle Wulfenbach, as kids? I had no one. No friends, no family, I didn’t even know who my father was. I just felt so...empty, like there was this part of me that was missing.

“But then Tarvek came. And he and I became friends. He probably did it out of pity at first, but it definitely wasn’t that way at the end. We were inseparable, and would get into all kinds of trouble together. It was great.”

Gil looked up at the sky. “One day, we decided to sneak into the Baron’s record vault, to figure out who my family was, and we found some planted documents that said they were all dead. I was devastated, and ran away.

“My father caught me, and that’s when I found out that he was my father. He told me I couldn’t trust Tarvek or his family, and then Tarvek got sent home for what he did.

“I met him again in Paris, but I couldn’t tell him who I was. Looking back, I probably should have, but I just couldn’t, and I thought I’d screwed it all up, and my other friends from the Castle had stopped talking to me, and...ugh!” Gil threw his hands in the air.

“Bang was my only friend for a while, and then Agatha showed up, and then she ‘died’, and I just felt so...broken. All my life I’d listened to my father, and that had just left me so alone, so I ran away. Then I joined up with you guys, and, well, you know the story from there.”

Zeetha sat down in the grass next to him. “Do you still feel alone and empty now?”

Gil looked over at her, and smiled. “Weirdly? No. It’s like I was missing something my whole life, and as soon as I joined the circus, even though I was lying about who I was and my history, I’ve never felt happier than I have with you guys. It’s almost funny.”

Zeetha leaned against the cart. “Feel better now?”

“Honestly, I kind of do.” Gil smiled at her. “Thank you, Zeetha. That really helped.”

Zeetha gave him a smile that almost seemed sad. “Happy to help.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Gil turned to Zeetha. “Do you have anything you need to talk about to sort through?”

Zeetha laughed. “No, of course not!” She only sat there for several seconds before she spoke again. “Yeah, I think I actually do.”

Gil looked at her to go on, and Zeetha pulled her knees up to her chest. “No one else in the circus knows this, but I didn’t just come to Europa so Skifander could learn about the outside world. I came to find my father.”

Gil choked on thin air. “What.”

“My father, Chump. He...well, he was an outsider, claiming to come from a far off land called ‘Europa’.” She laughed as she said this. “He showed up in Skifander when my mother was still a young princess, and she trained him, and they fell in love and got married somewhere along the way.

“But after I was born, well...something happened. And because of that, he left when I was only a month old. He didn’t even leave a note.

“Then I came here, to Europa to find my lost family. And then I was attacked by pirates, and lost the people I was travelling with, leaving me with no way home.”

She let out a sad, broken laugh, and leaned her head against the cart, looking at the sky.. “Isn’t it hilarious? No matter what I do, whenever I try to be something I just lose more.”

Gil placed his hand on her knee. “No. You gained more.” At the  _ oh-please-do-go-on  _ look she gave him, he started to laugh. “What was it you said a while back? ‘There are two types of family, and two different words for it?’

“You may not know how to find your relatives, Zeetha, but for now, you still have family.”

Zeetha smiled, and lightly punched him in the arm.

Gil let out a small yelp. “What was that for?”

“For being so mushy-sharing-feels. But also...thank you.” Zeetha smiled at him, in a way that came across as happy and grateful that he had never seen her before. “I didn’t know how much I needed that.”

“Hey, consider it payback for helping me.” Gil lightly punched her shoulder. “That’s for starting the mushy-sharing-feels stuff.”

A grin that could only be described as “shit-eating” lit up Zeetha’s face. “Oh, so that’s how you want to play, huh?’

Approximately three seconds later, Gil found himself in a headlock getting noogied. Despite this, he was happy in a way he hadn’t been in...a long time.

He was worried, yes, about the plan, and the future, and what could go wrong, but he was also strangely looking forward to the next month or so stuck on the road with his girlfriend, the circus, two crazy ladies who both seemed to have decided he was their brother, and his worst enemy-new friend? It was confusing, and he didn’t know how he felt about Tarvek.

But he did know that whatever came next, he didn’t have to worry about facing it alone.

Gil shoved Zeetha off of him and looked towards the sky, where the sun's first rays were beginning to put the stars to sleep. He smiled, content, ready for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks! That's the end of this fic! Like I said, I will be writing a sequel, so be sure to watch for that!
> 
> hope you thought the rewrites were okay!
> 
> please leave feedback/advice, as always
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


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